US IAM Mech. Labor thread

[Real tired]

Question for all you in MX at US

How many (active not furloughed) mechanics does US currently employ?

What are your MX stations? (I'm looking for stations with at least 300+ mechs)

This includes ALL mechanics, aircraft, plant maintenance, GSE, etc.

Thanks in advance

TSH

As of 12-08, 3865 mechanics of all classifications listed. The number of active is a tough number to come by. I wish I knew.

Maintenance stations of plus 300?
Well, PIT might be right on that dividing line. Then you have CLT and PHL, that I know of. As for west stations, maybe one of our west brothers could chime in.

 

[Old Guy]

Old Guy:

Myself and quite a few others who had around eighteen years service decided 3-5-2005 that we had enough and left.

There are other places to work besides UAir.

Amen to that! Nothing but Old Guys and losers left at us Air.

 

[ThirdSeatHero]

As of 12-08, 3865 mechanics of all classifications listed. The number of active is a tough number to come by. I wish I knew.

Maintenance stations of plus 300?
Well, PIT might be right on that dividing line. Then you have CLT and PHL, that I know of. As for west stations, maybe one of our west brothers could chime in.

Thanks for the info Real, I thought US still had a MX presence in PHX left over from the AWA days, has that MX been shifted elsewhere? And just to clarify, the 3865 is active ONLY or is that a combination of active AND furloughees?

Do you happen to have appx numbers for CLT and PHL?

BTW are you the same "Real Tired" that posts on the AMT.com? We may have conversed before.

Thanks again for the help

TSH

 

[ekjkj]

ThirdseatHero

The last active numbers I heard from the union was right before the US/AWA mechanics seniority lists were combined, and if memory serves correct they were around 2200 US mechanics and 800 AWA mechanics. The only station that still has laid off mechanics is PIT and several of them have moved on. I know of one mechanic who was recalled this week and he retired in 2005 so you can't go by the number of mechanics on the seniority list as active mechanics. Also the AWA mechanics might be interested in this. When I was laid off in 2005 Frank Shiffano told me that I will have lifetime recall rights to my job but I will stop accruing seniority for bidding purposes (i.e. station, days off, vacation bidding/accrual, and retirement) after five consecutive years of being laid off. I recently asked our union steward if this policy was still in effect and he didn't know of anything in our contract that addressed it, I told him I thought it was addressed in our constitution, he said he hasn't heard of any constitutional changes about that, but he will look into it for me, he hasn't gotten back to me yet.

So what that means for the AWA mechanics, US had a hiring spree in the late 90's thru 2000 and those mechanics were laid off right after Sept 11, 2001 I don't think any have returned so if a AWA mechanic was hired around then they should start moving up the list rapidly.

For example:

If a US mechanic was hired on Sept 30, 1999 and was laid off Sept 30, 2001 He would have his seniority frozen at 7 years on Oct 1, 2006 if he were still laid off. If a AWA mechanic was hired on Oct 1, 1999 and was still active he should move ahead of the US mechanic on the list even if he were to get recalled to PIT after Oct 1, 2006.

The reason I'm mentioning this is because we are getting calls from guys that have been laid off since 2001 and had no intentions of ever coming back to US Airways but now that the economy has tanked US Airways (even in PHL or PHX) doesn't look that bad anymore. In PIT we are closer to getting all the Mechanics recalled that want to come back after getting laid off in 2005 (I don't know the actual number but I think it is under 200 still in lay off status from PIT, how many of those want to come back I have no idea).

So if you were hired by AWA in the late 90's keep an eye on the seniority list it could be worth your while.

Ed

P.S. the reason I mentioned PHX as not being that bad anymore is because I heard the east mechanic are not welcomed out west, I wasn't putting PHX in the same category as PHL.

 

[Real tired]

Thanks for the info Real, I thought US still had a MX presence in PHX left over from the AWA days, has that MX been shifted elsewhere? And just to clarify, the 3865 is active ONLY or is that a combination of active AND furloughees?

Do you happen to have appx numbers for CLT and PHL?

BTW are you the same "Real Tired" that posts on the AMT.com? We may have conversed before.

Thanks again for the help

TSH

As posted above, AWA, PHX and the west area had about 800+ at the time of seniority integration. We had somewhere around 2200.

With the latest list I can find, it is showing 3865. The actual number on furlough would seem to be about 800+ going by these numbers. The true actual number, I do not know.

As you know, this thread is about as quiet as a walk in the park. I wish some of those 800 from the west would post once in a while. And some of the 2200 plus from PHL and CLT too !!! Then we could get the true numbers.

And yes, it's good to talk to you again.

 

[Real tired]

ThirdseatHero

The last active numbers I heard from the union was right before the US/AWA mechanics seniority lists were combined, and if memory serves correct they were around 2200 US mechanics and 800 AWA mechanics. The only station that still has laid off mechanics is PIT and several of them have moved on. I know of one mechanic who was recalled this week and he retired in 2005 so you can't go by the number of mechanics on the seniority list as active mechanics. Also the AWA mechanics might be interested in this. When I was laid off in 2005 Frank Shiffano told me that I will have lifetime recall ............


P.S. the reason I mentioned PHX as not being that bad anymore is because I heard the east mechanic are not welcomed out west, I wasn't putting PHX in the same category as PHL.

I might be mistaken, but I think recall rights last about 5 years. You might want to check that.

I think some of what you wrote WAS true before. But remember the "OEI"? I think once that was agreed to, all of which you spoke went out the window.

Including us as "east" Mechanics, worrying about what our junior brothers on the "west" think of us and whether we are "welcome" or not. Sounds to me a lot like the Piedmont days when it was "Yankee go home".

It's call seniority, and once we signed off on the OEI, worrying about what a AWA Tech thinks, went out the window too. We're all one big happy family now!!

 

[AP Tech]

ThirdseatHero
P.S. the reason I mentioned PHX as not being that bad anymore is because I heard the east mechanic are not welcomed out west, I wasn't putting PHX in the same category as PHL.

Welcome or not in this business, at least on the maintenence side of it senority rules!!! You go where your senority takes you. I have been bumped and lost days off quite a few times in this business, do I like it? No, but I don't take it personal, its business!! Grow up Westies!!!!

 

[ThirdSeatHero]

Thanks for all the info Real tired & ekjkj.

TSH

 

[ekjkj]

I might be mistaken, but I think recall rights last about 5 years. You might want to check that.

I think some of what you wrote WAS true before. But remember the "OEI"? I think once that was agreed to, all of which you spoke went out the window.

Including us as "east" Mechanics, worrying about what our junior brothers on the "west" think of us and whether we are "welcome" or not. Sounds to me a lot like the Piedmont days when it was "Yankee go home".

It's call seniority, and once we signed off on the OEI, worrying about what a AWA Tech thinks, went out the window too. We're all one big happy family now!!

I have our contract from Oct 1, 2005 and it states "employees who are on furlough shall continue to accrue seniority for a maximum of five (5) years, and thereafter shall only maintain their seniority status while on furlough.". When I go to work I'll check our current contract.

Thats why I asked Frank Shaffano about the recall rights and he told me you will have lifetime recall rights per the IAM constitution.

I remember the Piedmont days (I'm originally from Piedmont) and the first USAir station I bid was right after the merger allowed me to see alot like loading up the dump shoot on utility to turning power off on mechanics who are up in the deice bucket replacing missing screws the most senior mechanic told the pilots about who refused to take the airplane until they were replace. I was later told I just didn't know how to operate the deice truck and that was probably the first time I've ever been in one I promply told him I worked in UCA and he said "OH" I heard you were from CLT

 

[Real tired]

I have our contract from Oct 1, 2005 and it states "employees who are on furlough shall continue to accrue seniority for a maximum of five (5) years, and thereafter shall only maintain their seniority status while on furlough.". When I go to work I'll check our current contract.

Thats why I asked Frank Shaffano about the recall rights and he told me you will have lifetime recall rights per the IAM constitution.

I remember the Piedmont days (I'm originally from Piedmont) and the first USAir station I bid was right after the merger allowed me to see alot like loading up the dump shoot on utility to turning power off on mechanics who are up in the deice bucket replacing missing screws the most senior mechanic told the pilots about who refused to take the airplane until they were replace. I was later told I just didn't know how to operate the deice truck and that was probably the first time I've ever been in one I promply told him I worked in UCA and he said "OH" I heard you were from CLT

As for recall, it is for life, but after 5 years, on the 6th year, you come back as a new hire. No vacation, minimum wage. Only in a real bad job market would you want to come back here for what they are paying the new hires!!

Thanks for the memory jog!! Ah yes, "the good old days" and the fun with the "Speedbird boys" !!!!

 

[AluminumEnemaTime]

As for recall, it is for life, but after 5 years, on the 6th year, you come back as a new hire. No vacation, minimum wage. Only in a real bad job market would you want to come back here for what they are paying the new hires!!

Well I just got Real Tired of the bad and completely false information you are spreading on this board.

If you are laid off you do have lifetime recall rights, but as of the new transition agreement in April 2008, you come back to the pay scale from where you left. So if you were an A&P mechanic with 10 or more years time you come back at the topped out pay scale which is currently around 60K a year. As far as vacation goes, when anyone gets laid off they are paid all of their accrued vacation, so when you return to work you start earning vacation for the following year based on working 10 days a month.

I would caution anyone who is reading these boards to not believe anything real tired posts and find out the real TRUE information for yourself.

 

[AluminumEnemaTime]

Thanks for the info Real, I thought US still had a MX presence in PHX left over from the AWA days, has that MX been shifted elsewhere? And just to clarify, the 3865 is active ONLY or is that a combination of active AND furloughees?

Do you happen to have appx numbers for CLT and PHL?

Well the 3865 total mechanic numbers in Dec 08 was correct. As of 3-2-09 we had 2830 active mechanics actually working on the payroll.

The below station numbers are very close to current:

Clt 792

Pit 498

Phx 486

Phl 377

Las 104

Lax 84

Dca 82

Bos 64

Tpa 46

 

[MerlinMagician]

With 486 maint. people in PHX, can anybody from the west say who is doing the"C" checks on the west Airbus a/c?

 

[Awa Contract]

We have over 400 here in PHX, the few east techs that have moved have been welcomed into our group. For my 2 cents they are quite welcome, infact doing some of the target interviews for other locations I have invited some to come to PHX.

They are still done south of the border as part of the 50%.

 

[Old Guy]

We have over 400 here in PHX, the few east techs that have moved have been welcomed into our group. For my 2 cents they are quite welcome, infact doing some of the target interviews for other locations I have invited some to come to PHX.

They are still done south of the border as part of the 50%.

We are doing some of the bridge cks on orginal AWA buses in Pitt ("c's and S's " together.). Also landing gear/rib 5 line bores. Just what do you guys in PHX do with all that hangar space ? TACA can only do so many A/C. CLT will be doing bus work in the fall we hear. There should be some 73 bulk heads and lap joints due again. Phase array units for scribe cracks. Not to mention the 75, 76 work @ CLT.

OG